Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Caption:
Robert and Julie Fischer are fulfilling their longtime dream of living in an energy-efficient
home surrounded by organic gardens, native plants and orchard trees in Decorah,
Iowa.

By Kathy Litchfield

DECORAH, IOWA – When asked why
she and her husband choose organic methods, Julie Fischer had a question of her
own: “Is there any other way?”

Since
the 1970s, Julie and Robert Fischer perked up listening to Rachel Carson and Sandra
Steingraber. The more they learned about the broader effects of chemicals put
onto lawns and gardens seeping into groundwater and leaving stripped soil and
toxins behind, the more convinced they became that they had to choose another,
more natural way.

“We
lived in Kansas for about 30 years and became good friends with The Land
Institute. We went to a lot of lectures and gathered lots of information
there,” said Julie. “That further convinced us that there were really good ways
of living with nature without poisoning ourselves and others including our
natural insects that can be helpful in growing our crops naturally.”

The
Fischers moved to Iowa in 2003 and to Decorah in 2010 and embarked upon
constructing a nearly net zero energy home complete with passive solar heating,
a mini-split-heat pump system, concrete floors that absorb and retain heat and south-facing
windows. Rob spent years researching how to build energy efficient homes before
they even started looking for a good building site and an architect whose
philosophy lined up with their goals and desires.

“Among
our goals were to be in a place where we could walk to most things we wanted to
do, close to recreational trails. And to have good southern exposure, a
straight roof line for solar panels, south-facing windows . . .” said Julie.

“We
really notice the effects of passive solar on our house in the wintertime, on
sunny days when it may be 0° outside but toasty warm in our living room,” said
Rob. “Although we have a gas-fired high-efficiency boiler for in-floor heat
during very cold weather, we use our mini-split heat pump when it is only
moderately cold. It’s 26 degrees outside right now and it’s comfortable in
here. We’re using credits we accumulate with our utility for the energy produced
from the sun with the aid of our rooftop photovoltaic system!”

Immediately
after constructing their home, the Fischers started thinking about landscaping.
Their yard was all torn up and loaded with clay fill. Being just 44 feet wide
by 110 feet back, they decided to plant almost all of the available space with
vegetables, orchard trees, natives and perennial flowers.

The
Fischers met Jeff Scott of Driftless Gardens, who is a brand new NOFA
Accredited Organic Land Care Professional (CT course, 2014) at an Iowa home
show where he had a booth. Scott had heard about the Fischers’ innovative
building and began working with them in February of 2013.

“As
part of their home construction, they were pretty mindful about using net zero

construction
practices and they were invested in carrying that same idea to their
landscape,” said Scott, whose background includes organic farming and youth
education as well as horticulture.

Working
closely with the Fischers, Scott helped them put together a standard site
design including food production, native plantings, water management and access
and not putting too much into the small space, “so that it still felt and acted
like a functional and beautiful space.”

Scott
used pavers to install a long, steady ramp approach up to the house from the city
sidewalk, and advised the Fischers on native prairie plants and shrubs they
could use in the surrounding area. They purchased some of their plants from
Scott, who also maintains a propagation greenhouse.

Robert
and Julie’s backyard features six espaliered heirloom apple trees with a mix of
early, mid-season and late maturing varieties, two pear trees, raspberries, one
aronia shrub and a diverse selection of their favorite vegetables including
okra, tomatoes, beets, peppers, arugula, eggplant and broccoli. Beans climbed
trellises all summer long; they had a wonderful rhubarb patch; shared their
overwhelming broccoli harvest with their neighbors; and grew plenty of garlic
and onions. Two big rainwater barrels collect roof runoff water they use in the
gardens and for houseplants; they have a worm composter for their kitchen
scraps; and regularly feed a huge compost pile in the backyard too.

In the front yard,
Robert sourced limestone and glacial erratic stones and planted sedums and
succulents between the stones, added oregano and other herbs and perennial flowers.
He built retaining walls further out along the sides of the ramp for raised
beds of kale, basil and other herbs and edibles along with the prairie forbs
and greasses.

“People
stopped by and asked what our weird looking palm trees were,” laughedJulie,”
well that was our kale, until the deer mowed them down.”

One
day Julie, a retired nurse, came home from work at the Northeast Iowa Peace and
Justice Center, where she is volunteer coordinator of special events and
“community conversations” on important issues including immigration and urban
gardening, to find Rob digging what looked like graves in the backyard.

“He
had decided to dig down to where the good soil was, beneath the hardpan of clay
left by the big machinery that had tamped it down. He dug about four feet down
and was up to his hips in there,” she laughed.

The Fischers have
only a few small strips of lawn left on their property, which they mow using a
reel push mower, to the surprise of their neighbors’ little girl who accused
them of “not mowing right because there wasn’t any noise.”

The
Fischers’ efforts to convert lawn to gardens were quickly noticed by Seed
Savers Exchange, located a few miles away, who took photographs of the
Fischers’ property they plan to run in their spring catalogue.

Rob,
who is a German to English translator, serves on the local tree board and at
the city’s municipal prairie – river bottom land that had been used for
agriculture and was converted into a prairie attracting butterflies, birds and
native species. The Fischers formerly used community garden plots before
transforming their backyard into gardens and plan to use them again next year
for spreading plants like winter squash and sweet potatos.

“This
is a wonderful place to do this kind of gardening. Everyone’s so positive about
it and many people have gardens in their front yards now,” said Julie. “This is
really a widespread trend, surely influenced in part by Seed Savers Exchange
being close by. If you look out our back windows, three of our neighbors have
vegetable gardens. There’s a lot going on here!”

Most
rewarding for the Fischers is the feeling of satisfaction knowing they are not
contributing to the “culture of poisoning things.” “We’re reacting against that,
just growing things the way they should grow and getting joy out of it,” said
Rob.

Julie
and Rob love when neighbors pass by and stop to talk and visit; they also love
the physical work of getting their hands in the dirt, stretching their backs
and inhaling the rich, heady scent of good compost.

The
couple, living what they dreamed about for so long, hopes to be able to sit
back and admire their hard work as their plants get more established.
“Sometimes I look outside and Rob’s just standing there, looking
at things,” said Julie. “Maybe this year we’ll do more of that!”

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Twenty years ago, Clara Park was in
graduate school in California, eating organic eggs and vegetables. She and her
husband were studying English and wanted to live what she called
“environmentally responsible” lives.

“We wanted to be environmentally
conscious and didn’t even want a house for a long time. We lived in the city
without a car and we thought that was a good thing to do,” said Park, an east
coast native who lived in Texas, Washington D.C. and New York City before
moving to Connecticut. “When we moved here, we thought if we were going to have
a house, we wanted to choose responsible methods of caring for it.”

While her husband began law school
at Yale, the first thing she did was to seek out an organic community-supported
agriculture (CSA) farm share.

She
then read lots of articles and researched organic lawn care methods. She and
her husband wanted to leave grass clippings on the lawn, leave autumn leaves
where they fell and take care of stormwater runoff.

“I talked to the lawn care man who worked
here for the previous owner and asked if he could leave the grass clippings but
he said their machines weren’t built to do that,” said Park. “I wanted the
grass to grow longer and be cut less often as it was better for the soil. So I
started looking online.”

Park found Mike Papa of Artscape
Organic-Care, LLC on a google search. She was impressed with his seven-year NOFA
accreditation status and appreciated his can-do attitude and commitment to
organics from their very first meeting.

“Mr. Papa is really amazing. He’ll
talk to you about anything and has lots of logical things to say,” said Park.

The
20-year previous owner of Park’s property was an avid gardener and perennials
flourished and looked perfect , she said. In addition the lawn was green and
well-groomed by a conventional lawn care company.

“It
looked really great but there wasn’t enough organic matter in the lawn. Some of
the plants were too crowded together and diseases could spread. Mr. Papa had a
lot of observations that were really helpful,” she said.“He told us it was all about the health of
the soil and how we could improve that.”

Papa
said that a state of the art soil testing program as well as testing of the
plant tissue was key, as was selecting appropriate grass seeds for Park’s lawn.

“Clara’s
property has many plantsand we did lot
of trimming to allow appropriate habitats for turf and ornamentals, following
her budget,” said Papa. “I always tell my clients we use some calcium nitrate
(in our natural blends) strategically, to provide extra slow release nitrogen
in spring to promote growth. Stewardship skills are key to avoiding the use of
pesticides.”

Six
years later, Park said the lawn grows lushly in spring and holds its own while
the summer sun beats down upon it.

While
hot temperatures in August and September challenged the sprinkler system this
year, she said Mike and his crew returned as often as necessary to help them
work with the sprinkler company to adjust the watering.

“Also
they’ve been taking out crabgrass and re-seeding the subsequent bare patches.
We have a lot of clover in the back that we don’t mind, but are trying to keep
the front clear for the neighbors – though we haven’t weeded much this year!,”
she said. “The back was a disaster after Hurricane Sandy, blew over a huge oak
that knocked down two others, but my husband dug a pond and Mr. Papa landscaped
it for us.”

The
Park’s backyard features a beautiful 30-foot-long pond where goldfish – some
five years old and reproducing – swim in the midst of grasses and flowers.
Clara’s husband enjoys walking out to the pond at night and feeding the
goldfish, and her 10-year-old daughter loves to walk their pet cat, Delphine,
on a leash around the backyard.

A
cat on a leash? One reason this is important to Clara is that she loves
watching and listening to the numerous birds inhabiting their one-third of an
acre.

Robins,
jays, cardinals, doves, blackbirds and hummingbirds frequent her yard more
regularly since she started organic land care and installed the pond, and that
makes for a beautiful landscape to gaze at from the windows ofher home.

“I
just like Mr. Papa so much. I like how he thinks about the yard. I don’t worry
about how it looks. I have total faith in him and he just takes care of
everything,” she said.

Papa
said he enjoys the peace of mind he is able to bring to clients like Park.

“The
customer likes me so much from the simple fact that we care, are honest, and there
is peace of mind (in knowing) that we work in a pesticide free zone,” he said. “My
goal is to always work toward a balance in all we do, in addition to our
observations and intuitions.”

Park
said her yard “doesn’t have to look perfect, because it is healthy.”

“When
we moved here I expected more people would be into organic lawn care, but a lot
of people just want the service and don’t think about the methods. I know our
yard looks great most of the time, and that it stays healthier longer. I’m
confident that everything is ok and I don’t have to worry about it. Mr. Papa
looks out for the health of everything!”

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

For the second year, NOFA OLC offers a 2 track option on the final day of the Accreditation Course in Organic Land Care (http://www.organiclandcare.net/professionals/accreditation) so students can pursue an in-depth study of a topic relevant to their work. Glen Abrams designed this curriculum to offer land care professionals both the GSI big picture and focused sessions applicable to work which can be done for landscaping clients. The other concurrent track offered is Organic Turf Management with Chip Osborne.

Facing difficult decisions regarding compliance with Clean
Water Act rules concerning stormwater runoff and combined sewer overflows, many
communities have opted to pursue green stormwater infrastructure (GSI)
strategies over conventional approaches to managing runoff. GSI is an
engineered landscape system that intercepts rainfall, infiltrates a portion of
it into the ground, evaporates a portion of it into the air, and in some cases
releases a portion of it slowly back into the city's sewer system. The
intention is to design an urban landscape to restore natural hydrologic
processes to reduce the volume and water quality impacts of the built
environment while achieving additional social and economic benefits. The
Green Stormwater Infrastructure track will explore GSI practices in different
contexts, focusing on case studies of institutional, commercial, and
residential practices. Furthermore, we will discuss issues that arise
during construction of GSI practices and explore how these systems are
maintained.

Learning Objectives:

Learn the definition of Green Stormwater
Infrastructure (GSI) and become familiar with different land-water-plant based
systems through case studies of GSI practices in several land use contexts

Learn about the regulatory context driving the
need for stormwater management and the EPA's growing support for GSI

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About Us

The Organic Land Care Program is managed by the Northeast Organic Farming Association. The OLC has an Accreditation program for organic land care professionals based on the NOFA Standards in Organic Land Care. We also have a number of publications and programs to support homeowners and gardeners working to maintain their yard, garden and lawn without harmful chemicals.